I can't believe I have to waste bandwidth running a disclaimer for a tiny little personal Web site, but someone mistook my site for some kind of corporate entity the other day, so I thought I'd better include this page to make sure nobody else gets confused.

Here's the deal:

This is not a corporate Web site. There is no such company as "route66motels.com." This is a personal Web site. Motels are listed -- or not listed -- on this Web site exclusively at the personal whim of the site owner. I do not get paid to do this. Motels are listed here because I personally like them. I provide this information to help you find interesting places to stay that aren't total fleabags. I do not own a motel. Sometimes I don't even bother to tell the motel owners I have listed their properties on my Web site.

The motels on this Web site are not affiliated with each other in any way, so the experience you have at one motel should not in any way be considered a predictor of the experience you will have at another motel. These motels are privately owned and operated. They are not like those cookie-cutter franchise joints you're used to patronizing out there by the interstate on-ramp. They are unique properties run by people who have no business ties to one another and in many cases have never even heard of each other. A few of the Web sites for the motels listed here look sort of like this one. That's because their owners couldn't afford to hire a real Webmaster, so I built them a crappy little Web site for free using what little HTML I know.

All the motels on this Web site meet my personal standards, which are clearly outlined on the FAQ page. Your standards may be different from mine, so plan accordingly. If you haven't personally stayed in a given motel, ask to inspect the room before you check in. If it doesn't meet your personal standards, go somewhere else. If a problem arises after you check in, contact the manager. Most Route 66 motel owners take great pride in running clean, comfortable motels. Their hired help, however, may be a different story. If the manager doesn't help you, ask for the owner. If the owner doesn't help you, tell your credit-card company you want to dispute the charge. Let the credit-card company fight with the motel owner to get a refund. I seriously doubt this is going to happen to you (I wouldn't list a motel if I thought it was likely to provide lousy service or stiff a customer on a bill), but everybody makes mistakes now and then, and even a good motel can have a bad day.

DO NOT e-mail me to ask for a refund. I didn't get the money for your room, so I can't give it back to you. If you don't like your room, take it up with management.

That said, feel free to let me know about your experiences, good or bad. I have lots of friends up and down Route 66, and if I get a bad report about a motel, I will either go check it out myself or ask one of my friends to check it out for me. If I find reason to believe that it's turned into a rathole since my last stay, I will take it off the list. Conversely, if I get a lot of rave reviews about a particular motel, I will try to make mention of it on the Web site so people know this is a really popular place to stay. Do not expect me to remove a motel from the list just because you e-mailed me to claim that you had one bad experience there. With all due respect, I trust my own personal experience more than I trust the word of a stranger, so the motel will remain on the list until I've had a chance to check it out and determine whether I think your claim merits removing the motel from the site.